Following hard on the heels of the Super Stinger came
SearcyWorks next 'Super'-series redesign: the SCRD-3R
Super Crusader. Released for sale in 3045, the Super
Crusader made a favorable impression on the DCMS, and
they ordered 100 of them. This was fortunate, because
SearcyWorks had unknowningly designed the BattleMech
of the future: something that could trade shots at extreme
range and handle lots of punishment. Something that
could engage a Clan OmniMech and have some chance
of winning.
Capablities
While not the quantum leap in firepower and protection
the Super Stinger was, the Super Crusader is a noteable
improvement. The replacement of the design's arm-
mounted machineguns with ER Large Lasers gives it
excellent long-range firepower, but at the cost of
incredible heat. While an alpha strike will not shut the
'Mech down or threaten an ammo explosion, it will make
things rather uncomfortable in the cockpit. Most
MechWarriors consequently fire all their weapons, then
just the LRMs, and then all weapons again, keeping heat
issues to a minimum.
While the Super Crusader greatly resembles the Crusader,
and often fools Clan warriors, few Inner Sphere units are
fooled because it lacks the Crusader's head-mounted
medium laser and the hip-mounted SRM launchers are
much smaller. It is also bulkier, because when the design's
weight was increased the SearcyWorks engineers added
the maximum possible amount of armor to the new design,
and decided against the advanced armor-lamination
techniques used to make the Super Stinger roughly the
same size as its parent design.
Battle History
Perhaps the most well-known combat involving a Super
Crusader occurred during the Clan attempt to take
Luthien. An Otomo MechWarrior piloting a Super Crusader
challenged a Nova Cat Galaxy Commander piloting a Mad
Cat Prime to single combat and defeated the Galaxy
Commander in a spectular display of evasive manuvering
and marksmanship. The Otomo warrior's name is
unknown, however, as his lance was entirely composed
Super Crusaders and all suffered reactor damage that lead
to catastrophic reactor-safety failures later in the
engagement. Neither battleroms nor the testimony of
other MechWarriors present has ever conclusively
identified which one took down the Galaxy Commander.
Deployment
Super Crusaders have spread as far as the Free Worlds
League, but none have ever made it to the Capellan
Confederation, partly because SearcyWorks has never
sold anything but a few early-model Snipers to that nation,
and partly because when FedCom Super Crusaders have
faced Liao forces, they have either not lost or been blown
to pieces. Most of the Super Crusaders currently deployed
are part of the DCMS, but they are fairly common in the
ARDC and Free Rasalhague Republic.